Romance: Young Adult Romance: The Perfect Game (A Highschool Football Romance) (Bad Boy Nerd New Adult Romance) (79 page)

“I don’t
really
know what to tell you then,” Matt said.

“Well,
tell me
something at least,” I said.

Matt sat there a moment, not
really
knowing what to say, or if he did know, he didn’t seem to have much interest in
saying
it.

“Okay, look,” Matt started, “I didn’t want to say anything, and I was avoiding saying anything at the party, but I think Jeff is only interested in you to get to me.”

I looked at Matt and rolled my eyes in disbelief.

“Why would he do that,” I asked, “What does he have to gain?”

Matt sighed.

“I think he’s trying to use you to get close to me because he’s made it well known that he wants to be team captain.  If he’s with you, there’s probably a better chance that he’d get it.”

I laughed at first, but he didn’t join in, causing my
laugh to quickly fade
.  He was
truly
serious
.

“You don’t
really
think that he’d use me to get to you.  He’s a decent guy,” I said.

“Tell that to the last girl that he dated,” Matt added.

“What happened with the last girl,” I asked.

“After they started dating, it wasn’t long before he
was moved
up to starter.  Then they broke up.”

“There must be a
reason why
they broke up that isn’t related to his moving up to starter, I just know it,” I pleaded.

“Well then, you’ll have to get the truth out of him yourself.  In the meantime, you should get back to work.  You have a mock trial in just two
days,
and you need to
be prepared
for it,” he said, “I gotta get back to my
own
homework, Holly.”

He leaned in and gave me a hug before taking his leave. 

I needed to know what was going on more than I needed to work on my homework.  I knew where Jeff would be, and that was exactly where I needed to go.

6.

I called
him,
but he didn’t pick up, which would only really mean one thing, he was probably working out in the gym.  It wasn’t far, and it was a sunny day, so I walked that direction.

Then I spotted him talking with Matt in the distance.  I wondered why Matt would be talking to him right now of all times.  I thought he said he had some homework that he needed to finish.

The two of them were just barely in earshot.

“Why do you guys keep thinking that I somehow did something wrong to become a starter,” Jeff asked, somewhat furiously.

“You’re the one that dated the coach’s niece for a month to get your position.  Now you’re dating my best friend so you can be team captain,” Matt added.

Jeff looked frustrated, and I was glad that neither of them noticed me, it gave me the chance to get a little closer to hear.

“I may have dated the coach’s niece but it wasn’t to become a starter,” Jeff said, “The coach gave me an ultimatum.  Either I quit the
team,
or
I
break up with her.  Sure, I cared about her, but I didn’t think our relationship was anything special.”

“Is that the same way you feel about Holly?” Matt asked.

“Holly is a
wonderful
girl,” Jeff said
simply
.

“Well then, I’ll
give you the chance
.  If you break up with Holly you can be
team
captain,
and I won’t say a word to Holly about any of this,” Matt said.

I wanted to jump out and yell at Matt about how absurd his idea was.  I wanted to tackle Jeff for even considering the option.  I wanted to do a lot of
things,
but none of them came to me.  I just left.

I
ran,
like I always used to do to clear my head.  Except this time, I
ran
because I couldn’t
clear
my head at all.  There was too much to think about, and I was starting to regret the freedom I had given myself just the other day.

Jeff
really
was a creep.  I knew it in the back of my head all along, but I didn’t say anything. 
He seemed so genuine.

Then my phone started ringing.  I checked the caller
ID,
and it said that it was Jeff.  I didn’t want to answer, but I had a feeling he was just returning my call from before. 

I dabbed the tears that were forming at the edge of my eyes and wiped my nose.

“Hello?” I said.

“Hey, you called?” Jeff wondered.

“Yeah, I was just wondering if you wanted to get together for lunch,” I lied.

“Aww man, I would, but I’m a bit busy today.  I have some good news,” he started.

“Yeah?” I replied.

“It sounds like I’m going to be team captain, isn’t that great?” he said.

“That’s great,” I said, gulping down my sadness.

“So, maybe I’ll see you
later,
and we can talk; maybe get some food?” he said.

“Yeah, sure,” I replied then clicked off the phone. 

He had taken the deal.  He
really
was just using me as leverage to get what he wanted.  I didn’t want to tip him off, and I didn’t want to answer any more of his calls. 

I returned to my dorm room and buried myself in my books.

7.

It had been a
couple of
days.  Jeff continued to
call,
but I didn’t have any interest in talking.  Today was the day of my mock
trial,
and I had to be alert and prepared.  I spent most of the afternoon with my classmates getting ready. 

No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn’t get Jeff out of my head.  It was an odd thing
too
because I
really
hadn’t had this feeling with any of my previous
ex-boyfriends
in the past.  Breaking up in the past was easy; like changing out the ice in the freezer. 

I was surprised at how attached I had become to Jeff in so short a
period of time
.  But,
at least,
I could work on getting over it now.  I wouldn’t need to worry about being close to him again.  That ship had sailed.  I couldn’t even come up with the courage to hear him break up with me, either.  I knew it was coming, considering the conversation he’d had with Matt.

Matt made me just about as angry as Jeff right now.  Who would go
behind
their friends back and offer a deal like that?  I wanted to punch him, hard.  I knew he could take it,
but, all the same,
I figured taking some time away from both of them would be good.  I could get back to being the person that I was before this
awful
week started. 

The classroom was
setup
like a classic courtroom.  The teacher sat behind her desk as a judge would.  Several tables were shoved together to make a prosecution and defense table.  There were members of the class representing a
jury,
and the remaining members of the class were considered witnesses with roles to play in the upcoming trial. 

I was excited for it to start. 

But, then I saw Jeff and Matt sitting in the front row behind the prosecution desk.  My heart
sank,
and my brain went completely blank. 

Both of them stood up as I entered.

I ran up to both of them, grabbed them by the wrists, and led them to the hall.

“What the hell are you two doing here,” I said, seething with anger.

“We’re here to find out why you haven’t talked to us the last couple of days,” Matt said.

“Yeah, where have you been?” Jeff asked.

I rubbed my temples trying to drown out
the headache
that was coming to the forefront of my skull.

“You guys know where I’ve been,” I started, “I’ve been avoiding both of you.”

They looked at each other.

“Why?” asked Jeff.

“Oh, I think you know
why,
” I replied.

“Enlighten us,” Matt said.

“I saw you guys talking.  I heard the deal that Matt proposed.  The one that said that you would stop dating me and in return he’d cede team captain to you,” I said.

“I had a feeling you did,” Matt said, “I thought I saw you running away from us the other day.”

“Yeah, well it was me, okay?  When I got the call from Jeff that he had become
team
captain, I knew he took the deal.  I just didn’t want
to even bother
with either of you anymore.”

“He didn’t take the deal, Holly,” Matt said.

“Then how is he team captain,” I asked.

“Because I let him be,” Matt replied.

“Why?” I asked, becoming more confused by the second.

“You left before our conversation ended.  I proposed he stop dating you and in exchange he’d get to be team captain.  But, he said it was no contest.  He wanted to keep dating you,” Matt said.

“Holly, you’re probably the most amazing woman I’ll ever meet in my lifetime.  I would rather quit the team than quit dating you,” Jeff added.

“When I heard how genuine he was, I had a change of heart.  He’s a good guy, Holly,” Matt said.

I looked at the two of them.  They both looked like they were ready to break down and cry;
a very unbecoming look for two giant footballers
.  I laughed when I looked at their puppy dog faces, and they just looked back in confusion.

“I’m sorry.  You guys are just the most ridiculous looking people when you get emotional,” I said.

I pulled them in and gave them both the biggest hug I could manage.

“Hey Holly, we’re about to start, you
comin’
?” said my
class-mate
poking her head out the door.

“I’ll be right there,” I said.

“Alright, time for me to
go win
this; then I’ll take you two out for a
much-deserved
dinner, and we can talk,” I said.

I was feeling
clear-headed
; the fog was beginning to lift.  I still had no idea what I
really
wanted out of life, but I was
beginning
to realize that it
really
didn’t matter.  What mattered is who was there to enjoy it with me.

*****

THE END

Chapter One

Faith Fisher stood in front of the mirror, running her hands down her sides and over her hips. Her new jeans fit very well. She could see herself walking next to Ethan Ronan, star halfback, at the next after game party. She straightened her glasses, then took them off to see what she looked like without them. But then she couldn’t see. She squinted to try and see better. It didn’t help.

She sighed and slipped on her glasses again. She needed to ask her mother if she could get contacts. Or she could just buy them herself with her tutoring money. She brushed her fingers through her blond hair, pulling it down in its natural waves over her chest. It came down just below her breasts, which were not too big, not too small, one of the few things she was satisfied with when it came to her body. She didn’t want to think she was frumpy and
heavy,
but she was a tad
overweight,
and most of her clothes were not the best style ever.

In fact, did she even have a style?

Ethan wasn’t going to go out with her unless she figured out her style and dressed herself up a bit. She turned and threw herself on her stomach on the big bed, kicking her legs up behind her. She half-crawled on the bed and grabbed her cell phone off the night table.

WHATCHA DOIN? She texted her best friend, Stacy Thorn. Then she set the phone back down and scooted down on the bed to open her laptop and scan Facebook. Her phone beeped almost
immediately,
and she grabbed it up.

TALKIN’
TO MOM AND DAD. WE STILL ON FOR SPRING BREAK?

Faith smiled and texted back that they were
definitely
still on. She and Stacy were planning on heading out to the beach with half the football team and some of the cheerleaders on a quick weekend trip. She hadn’t told Stacy about her crush on
Ethan,
but she suspected her friend new
anyway
. They had been best friends since grade
school,
and there was
very little
they could keep from each other. She didn’t see that they would ever be apart. College was coming
up,
and they would be attending the same school
…
just the community college for the first two years. They had both been given two free years as a scholarship because of their grades.

CAN YOU COME OVER LATER AND WATCH A MOVIE? She texted. She held her phone in her hand and waited for the response.

YEAH, MOM AND DAD SAID I CAN STAY THE NIGHT. I’LL BE OVER IN A HALF HOUR.

She smiled. She dropped back down on her bed, looking up at the ceiling. The trip was coming up faster than she expected. It was finally this Friday. She’d been waiting for weeks. She wanted to make a good impression on Ethan. Stacy would help. She would make sure that Faith didn’t come off as some
kind of
geeky nerd. That surely wouldn’t attract Ethan.

Stacy came over just as she said, in a half hours’ time. She lived fifteen minutes away by bike
ride,
but her father brought her over in his car.
She
came
in
Faith’s room and tossed her bag on the floor by the bed. She wrapped her arms around her friend and hugged her tight. “Faith!
You’re looking so good, girl!”

Faith laughed. “Better than I was yesterday when you saw me?”

Stacy’s smile was
wide
.
“Yes,
of course, darling,
yes, of course!
” She faked a British accent and rolled her eyes in a haughty manner. “I know you’re as excited as I am about the trip this weekend! And guess what! We’re gonna leave on Thursday instead of Friday!”

Both girls squealed and Faith bounced on the bed on her knees, clapping her hands. “No way! How did that happen and how come I didn’t know!”

“You know now! The girls just called and told me.” Stacy was good friends with several of the cheerleaders. She had been on the team during the first two years of high school but gave it up for their junior year to concentrate on her studies. She was brilliant and beautiful at the same time. Faith always felt lucky to be her friend. She had no idea why Stacy remained friends with her despite her popularity.

Stacy dropped onto the bed and leaned back on her elbows. “You know, Faith, they told me to
tell you
. They want you to come along.”

Faith blushed slightly and bit her bottom lip. “Did you tell them about Ethan?” She suspected Stacy knew. She might as well come out with it.

Stacy stuck her tongue through her teeth, smiling big. “Of course not, Faith. I know you. You don’t want your feelings broadcast all over. Besides, Heather would
tell,
and we don’t want that right off, do we?”

Faith shook her head, hiding her grin behind her hand. “No. I want to try to talk to him myself before anybody finds out.”

Stacy turned over on her stomach and hunched her shoulders. “You’re gonna talk to him? What are you
gonna
say? Do you know? I bet you’re gonna need to drink a beer before you do that!”

Faith shook her head. “Oh no! I hope they aren’t gonna be drinking!”

Stacy laughed loudly. “Of course not! Those guys don’t drink. Their dads would kill them, every last one of them! If one dad didn’t, another one would. Imagine that! Ruining a perfectly good football career by drinking alcohol and getting all messed up. I can’t imagine.”

“I think it’s one of the only reasons the team is as good as they are.”

“You mean cuz they don’t drink?”

“Yeah. I think that’s why they win so many games.”

Stacy nodded. “I would put bets on that, Faith. Now let’s see. What are we
gonna
do? Mom says I can stay the night. We got lots of time.”

“Awesome!”

Thursday morning, Faith woke up to the bright sun streaming through her open window, letting in a cool breeze with it. She slid out of bed and closed the window, pulling the blinds so she could get dressed without thinking the entire neighborhood was watching. Her mother often came in and opened the window while she was sleeping because her room was always the hottest in the house.

She dressed quickly. Stacy would be there to pick her up in her dad’s car by
9,
and they would be meeting the rest of the group at the school by 9:30. She was as excited as she’d ever been in her 17 years of living.
She
could see herself swimming with Ethan and splashing him and going for a piggy-back ride on his back, playing chicken with their friends.

She took a shower, got dressed as quickly as she could and was standing outside waiting when Stacy pulled up. Her friend leaned over and yelled through the window.

“Let’s go, girl, we don’t have all day!”

“I’m not the one who’s late.” Faith grinned wide as she threw her duffel bag in the back seat and climbed into the front. “What happened? I figured you’d be here early.”

Stacy shook her head. “It takes
time
to look this good, sweetie.”

They both
laughed,
and Faith responded, “Really? It didn’t take long to look
this
good.” She looked up and pressed one index finger under her chin. They both laughed
again,
and Stacy pulled out into the street.

“We are going to have a
great time
, Faith.”

“I know it!”

Faith rolled down the window and put her hand out, letting it ride on the wind. “It’s such a beautiful spring break week. It
’s too bad
we couldn’t go earlier in the
week,
but I’m glad we get to go now.”

Stacy nodded, glancing over at her. “Yeah, I don’t think everybody’s parents would have gone for having us all gone that long. Not enough supervision. You know they all grew up back in the ‘80s when Freddy Krueger was all the rage.”

The girls laughed again and Faith pretended to be scared.

“So did you bring along any books to read?” Stacy asked in a teasing voice.

Faith flushed but smiled back at Stacy. “Maybe.” She
had
brought along a
couple of
books. It was always good to be prepared if she was left sitting on the beach alone. She planned to do plenty of swimming and volleyball and talking to
Ethan,
but there was always a chance she wouldn’t be able to do at least two of those things. She couldn’t help thinking what if she was stung by a jellyfish and couldn’t go back in the water or what if she twisted her ankle and couldn’t play volleyball? She didn’t even want to think about not being able to talk to Ethan. She pictured him in her mind and knew her face was flushing even more.

“Good grief, your face is all red, Faith. Whatever are you thinking about?”

Faith just gave her a look. Stacy burst out laughing.

“Ethan!” She said. “Well, I wish you luck, honey. He’s a tough nut to crack.”

“Why do you say that?”

Stacy shrugged. “I don’t want to be the one to burst your
bubble,
but you’re not exactly his type.”

“What’s his type? And what type am I?”

Stacy raised her eyebrows. “Well, you aren’t
his
type, at least, not that I can see. He doesn’t go for the brainy beauties. He
goes for the
brain
less
beauties. You know, the ones who don’t care whether he cheats or not or goes out with his friends more often. Or doesn’t introduce you when you go out and meet someone new. Or…”

“Okay, okay, I get it. You sure don’t make him sound very attractive.”

Stacy looked at her. “You can’t judge someone by their looks, Faith. You gotta see what’s underneath, too.”

Faith didn’t look back at her. She looked out the window, letting her hand ride on the wind and thinking about what Stacy had said.

When they reached the school, most of the other students were already there, talking and laughing excitedly. The beach they were going to was an hour and a half away. They had all pitched in several hundred dollars to reserve large suites in a hotel that was right on the shorefront. Faith watched two of the football players loading coolers into the back of the SUV they were taking and gave Stacy a look. Her friend just shrugged as if to say, “what they do is their business.”

She didn’t want to judge and decided the coolers
were probably filled
with Coke and Pepsi. She wasn’t riding with them
anyway
. She saw Ethan but didn’t go over to him. He was with four girls and his best friend, Darryl. She and Darryl locked eyes for a moment and nodded at each other. They didn’t know each other well either but he was the only one on the football team she had
classes with
. In fact, she shared three classes with him. He was tall and muscular, the star quarterback. From what she’d heard about him, he planned to go to college on a football scholarship and someday play
for
the pros.

She was surprised when he left the group he was with and approached her and Stacy.

“
Hey,
ladies.” He said.

“
Hey,
Darryl.” Both Faith and Stacy replied at the same time. They looked at each other and laughed. Darryl’s smile spread across his face, revealing bright white, straight teeth.

“Excited yet?” He asked.

“Yeah, very!” Stacy said, openly flirting with the boy. “You?”

Darryl nodded, crossing his arms over his chest. “Yeah, I get to drive a bunch of dumb jocks across the state and watch them get wasted all weekend. Sounds like a
great time
.”

Faith raised her eyebrows. “You don’t sound serious. You’re not gonna drink, too?”

He shook his head. “Beer is nasty, girl. Don’t drink. It turns people into classless, moral-less fools.”

“Is moral-less a word?” Stacy asked, teasing him. He smiled at her.

“Does it matter?”